 "Photo:")
Album: "Sweet Weaponry" Rating: Three stars out of five Label: Doghouse/Heinous
Since the days of Letters to Cleo and Save Ferris in the mid-'90s, the genre of female-fronted pop-punk hasn't had a band that could sound happy and bubbly while singing about the occasional depressing subject. Cruiserweight has taken on the challenge of breathing new life into the genre with its latest album, "Sweet Weaponry."
Lead singer Stella Maxwell can mask sad lyrics with her bright, energetic voice, allowing each song to carry a similar hook-filled sound full of three-chord guitars and subdued bass lines. Harmonies built with deeper male voices on songs such as "Vermont" and "This Ain't No Beach Party" enhance her already sunny tone, giving the songs an extra layer of diversity.
With perhaps the longest song title ever, "At the End of the Tunnel There is Always a Shining Light" layers a chorus with the obvious yet effective lyrics of "It takes all of your life / To stay alive" on top of doo-wop-infused background singing. The experimentation with a seemingly opposing genre makes the occasionally odd lyrics a little less ridiculous ("You're at the wheel / While I quiz you on multiplication and radio").
Though always fun and catchy, Cruiserweight created multiple choruses full of tongue-in-cheek obvious statements bordering on the annoying. In "There You Are," Maxwell tries to cheer up a depressed pal with the help of a children's chorus repeating the obvious "No matter where you go / There you are."
Cruiserweight manages to lose the happy mood that spreads across most of the disc in the understated "Have You Had One of Those Days?" With only an acoustic guitar playing out the melody, a gloomy cello plays along to the tale of past woes eventually taking the forefront as a distorted electric guitar chord ends the album with chaotic noise.
The hopeful "Phantom Rider" keeps the same formula of catchy hooks and sweetly sung lyrics about getting a failing relationship back on track. The shining moment comes in the subdued ending, a single acoustic guitar accompanying the foreboding lyrics of "So scrimp and save/And blow your fingernails dry / And some of the guilt away / But you know that he's coming / You know that he's coming / Be what may."
Whether singing about attempts to live up to parental expectations ("To Be Quite Honest") or contemplating whether to conform to the music industry's expectations ("Vermont"), the songs of "Sweet Weaponry" are fun. Cruiserweight has mastered a formula of catchy pop hooks and singalong choruses, but as a recording, the full effect of their sound sometimes becomes subdued, losing some of its fun.
- Leslie Flynn
Be the first to comment on this article!